Malt Infused Metal

Beer and Metal: A savagely harmonious combination. Not unlike peas and carrots. Or masturbation and razor wire. Or sex and nipple clamps attached to car batteries.

So, why not cultivate that vicious amalgamation into a metal bar that serves craft beer? Well, a few Denver entrepreneurs did just that, opening a brewing company called TRVE, the bar rooted just south of downtown Denver on a bohemian stretch of asphalt called Broadway.

“Our goal is to give you a rad place to hang out and drink killer beer,” their website reads. “ . . . our mission has always been to create beers that are beyond the pale. To us this implies new ideas, channeling Loki, and embracing chaos. It means drawing from the sounds and sights that inspire us most in life.”

They used the word rad. How fucking rad is that?

I dropped by TRVE with some friends to drown my brain in more than a few heavenly hellishly fermented beverages (and only after, of course, we sacrificed a few humans to Loki).

I met an awesome barkeep named Shayna (sorry if spelling is off), who let me sample a few of TRVE’s brutal brews, including Grey Watcher—a Grisette-style farmhouse ale. It had a strong sour taste that complemented the beer very nicely malevolently.

Next was a sample of Death Ripper—an amber(ish) ale. Indeed the drink plunged into my stomach and ripped apart my dark soul, so I ordered 16 more ounces of that wonderfully fiendish refreshment.

As I was sipping away on my hops, I asked Shanya how she got into metal. Shayna told me that when she was a wee-little kid, her mom would play Judas Priest records.

Shanya added that her mom recently battled cancer and was victorious. In honor of her mom’s conquest, Shayna had the words Judas Priest tattooed on her arm, the letters in pink (the color for cancer awareness) outlined in black.

And it wasn’t long after our conversation that I heard Judas Priest’s “Between the Hammer and the Anvil” blasting out of the speakers above the bar as I gulped down the rest of my Death Ripper.

Being a Saturday night, the bar was packed with assorted groups of revelers. There were (of course) small clusters of metalheads, but I also saw a small pack of punks, a few gaggles of “hipsters,” and even a faction of yuppies—all enjoying the solidarity of those who embrace beer and metal and human sacrifices to Loki.

Normally I would feel tremendously uncomfortable sitting in a crowded bar, but Sepultura’s “Slave New World” calmly truncated my apprehension. I was even slamming my head forward a few times, careful not to knock over my brew, lest I be charged with alcohol abuse, dragged out behind the bar, and beaten to death with giant pixie sticks—as is the law in Denver. (We take our beer very seriously in the Mile High City.)

Soon I was on my third (or fourth, or sixth) beer—this time an American stout called Stout O))). And I mean this was a fucking STOUT. The kind of beer you eat with a knife and a fork. Thick as tree bark. Impenetrably dark. And a taste that makes you cum in your pants with the first sip bite.

It was when I was eating my stout that a black metal band out of Norway called Urgehal began trouncing TRVE denizens. Songs from their album Goatcraft Torment tore out of the speakers and fed greedily off the beer-soaked flesh at the bar.

But the most savage facet of TRVE is their strong support for local talent. Not only does the bar display local art on the walls, but the brewery collaborates with Flatline Audio, a Denver studio that churns out (among other music) metal.

“Recording time ain’t always cheap,” TRVE’s website reads. “And there are killer bands out there fighting tooth and nail just to break even. We wanted to help these people out and get their music heard.”

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Wow , I just happened to stumble across this amazingly talented gentlemen’s page and not only did I find what seems to be a shared last name but also, I feel honored to share the name of the bar keeper in this story (who’s name you spelled eloquently perfect). I just wanted to say hello and in hopes you read this and respond. If not I just wanted to let you know that your writings are amazing and bad assed! I have enjoyed reading them and look forward for the next.

I had to recalibrate my mind after rejecting the very faith (the very meaning of my existence) that exhorted my yearning to love and be loved as an abomination. I had to process the isolation and self-hatred of being a gay man in the military during Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

I had to navigate depression, suicidal ideation, and a life void of purpose.

So I cultivated and nurtured my own purpose. I studied fiction and philosophy.

I merged the two into a novel. I lived and breathed and took witness through five characters, woven together into a single narrative.

The five characters are based on the five existential archetypes outlined in Simone du Beauvoir’s, The Ethics of Ambiguity.

The Nihilist
The Sub-human
The Adventurer
The Serious Man
The Passionate Man

I’ll leave you philosopher lovers out there to figure out which character belongs to which existential archetype.

Writing this book saved my life. It’s a pretty good read, too!

My First Novel: Remnants of Light

Just a guy trying to be creative before I’m kicked off this spinning spaceship suspended in a vast void.

Why photography?

We’re forever locked within a specific set of limited perceptions and spatial relationships. This vision we enjoy is defined by cells stacked in the eye. These cells only absorb and process a small portion of the entire spectrum of light.

We see so little of what is truly out there.

I try to use the camera to deviate from those familiar perceptions, to reframe those spatial spaces, to expose thin slices of time that change our relation to experiences teaming with unknowns, flashes of awe, and beauties unseen.